Race of his life earns Waterloo runner a scholarship to Stanford

SportsDec 18, 2012Waterloo Region Record

KITCHENER — It took less than four minutes for Scott Buttinger’s world to change.

The Waterloo resident, who came out of nowhere on June 22 at London’s TD Waterhouse Stadium to become Canada’s fastest high school runner over 1,500 metres, has accepted a substantial scholarship package to attend prestigious Stanford University near Palo Alto, Calif.

A fifth-year student at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, Buttinger passed on full-ride deals to the University of Texas and Rice University in Houston to attend the school that had been his preferred destination from the beginning. Princeton University, an Ivy League school in New Jersey that doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, was also in the picture.

“It was all about the right fit. It wasn’t about getting a scholarship, it was about finding the right mix of academics and athletics,” says the well-spoken Buttinger.

“There is a great engineering program there, second only to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the athletic programs are strong. And with 65- to 70-degree weather there year-round, it’s hard to beat that as a distance runner.”

The Laurel Creek Track and Field Club member was as shocked as anyone by his unforeseen time of three minutes, 47.91 seconds at the London Distance Series event on June 22, especially considering he had posted a time of 3:55.55 just six days earlier at a meet in Windsor. Because of that result in Windsor, Buttinger was the 16th-ranked runner in a field of 16 for the London race.

The 17-year-old Buttinger responded with the race of his life and NCAA coaches took notice. More than 30 of them contacted him over the next few days to express interest, something that was both exciting and overwhelming. Fortunately, Buttinger had a busy competitive schedule that allowed him to redirect his focus. He was at the Olympic trials in Calgary a few days after the London race and also competed at the Canadian junior track and field championship in Winnipeg in late July.

In between the competitions, Buttinger found the time to make 15 unofficial visits to U.S. schools during the summer. His four official visits — to Stanford, Rice, Texas and Princeton — took place in October.

Resurrection and Laurel Creek coach Tom Fitzgerald played a huge role in Buttinger’s success, setting him up with a game plan that saw him focus on shorter races during the high school season in April, May and early June to work on his speed before shifting to the longer distance and focusing on endurance.

“I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I know it was the right thing because Fitz said it was the right thing,” Buttinger says. “He always has some master plan going on, but you don’t know all the parts.”

Buttinger was interested in Stanford from the get-go, but it was never a slam dunk that he’d wind up there. The first hurdle came up when Eldrick Floreal, one of the coaches to contact Buttinger, left Stanford to take over at the University of Kentucky in early July. Stanford was without a coach until hiring former Georgetown associate head coach Chris Miltenberg in late August.

Miltenberg contacted Buttinger shortly after he was introduced as coach. He encouraged Buttinger to pay a visit to Stanford, but warned him that all recruits have to be approved by the school’s admissions department. Buttinger would have to write half a dozen essays before he was accepted, something he did in mid-November. Then it was a matter of nervously waiting for a response.

He received the good news from Miltenberg last week just before heading out for an after-school run.

Buttinger will be the fourth child of Gord and Pam Buttinger to head south on an athletic scholarship. Maddie, the oldest of seven children — six of them girls — got the ball rolling by attending the University of Notre Dame on a track scholarship. Natalie and Jessica followed with field hockey scholarship to Penn State University and the University of Duke.

“I was actually really worried that I wouldn’t get the same opportunities as my sisters,” he says. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to have it over with and getting that monkey off my back. Now the pressure’s on my little sisters, I guess.”

Next in line is Danielle, who is in Grade 11 at Resurrection, but has already received attention from U.S. schools because of her field hockey talent. Emily, who is in Grade 9 at Resurrection, was a starter on the school’s field hockey team this year while Rachel, the baby of the bunch, is in Grade 6.

One of the first things that Scott did when he received the good news was order a new decal for the rear of his father’s GMC Suburban. Gord Buttinger currently shows his support for Notre Dame, Penn State, Duke and Yale and will soon add a Stanford sticker to the collection.

The Yale decal is in support of Jessica’s boyfriend Tyler Varga, a running back on the Bulldogs football squad.

Buttinger has two goals he hopes to achieve before heading to California next year. He wants to earn a spot on the Canadian team that will compete at the Pan-American junior games in August and he also hopes to become the first Canadian high school athlete since Cambridge’s Nathan Brannen to break the four-minute mile.

It won’t be easy, but as he showed in late June of this year, anything is possible.

Race of his life earns Waterloo runner a scholarship to Stanford

SportsDec 18, 2012Waterloo Region Record

KITCHENER — It took less than four minutes for Scott Buttinger’s world to change.

The Waterloo resident, who came out of nowhere on June 22 at London’s TD Waterhouse Stadium to become Canada’s fastest high school runner over 1,500 metres, has accepted a substantial scholarship package to attend prestigious Stanford University near Palo Alto, Calif.

A fifth-year student at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, Buttinger passed on full-ride deals to the University of Texas and Rice University in Houston to attend the school that had been his preferred destination from the beginning. Princeton University, an Ivy League school in New Jersey that doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, was also in the picture.

“It was all about the right fit. It wasn’t about getting a scholarship, it was about finding the right mix of academics and athletics,” says the well-spoken Buttinger.

“There is a great engineering program there, second only to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the athletic programs are strong. And with 65- to 70-degree weather there year-round, it’s hard to beat that as a distance runner.”

The Laurel Creek Track and Field Club member was as shocked as anyone by his unforeseen time of three minutes, 47.91 seconds at the London Distance Series event on June 22, especially considering he had posted a time of 3:55.55 just six days earlier at a meet in Windsor. Because of that result in Windsor, Buttinger was the 16th-ranked runner in a field of 16 for the London race.

The 17-year-old Buttinger responded with the race of his life and NCAA coaches took notice. More than 30 of them contacted him over the next few days to express interest, something that was both exciting and overwhelming. Fortunately, Buttinger had a busy competitive schedule that allowed him to redirect his focus. He was at the Olympic trials in Calgary a few days after the London race and also competed at the Canadian junior track and field championship in Winnipeg in late July.

In between the competitions, Buttinger found the time to make 15 unofficial visits to U.S. schools during the summer. His four official visits — to Stanford, Rice, Texas and Princeton — took place in October.

Resurrection and Laurel Creek coach Tom Fitzgerald played a huge role in Buttinger’s success, setting him up with a game plan that saw him focus on shorter races during the high school season in April, May and early June to work on his speed before shifting to the longer distance and focusing on endurance.

“I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I know it was the right thing because Fitz said it was the right thing,” Buttinger says. “He always has some master plan going on, but you don’t know all the parts.”

Buttinger was interested in Stanford from the get-go, but it was never a slam dunk that he’d wind up there. The first hurdle came up when Eldrick Floreal, one of the coaches to contact Buttinger, left Stanford to take over at the University of Kentucky in early July. Stanford was without a coach until hiring former Georgetown associate head coach Chris Miltenberg in late August.

Miltenberg contacted Buttinger shortly after he was introduced as coach. He encouraged Buttinger to pay a visit to Stanford, but warned him that all recruits have to be approved by the school’s admissions department. Buttinger would have to write half a dozen essays before he was accepted, something he did in mid-November. Then it was a matter of nervously waiting for a response.

He received the good news from Miltenberg last week just before heading out for an after-school run.

Buttinger will be the fourth child of Gord and Pam Buttinger to head south on an athletic scholarship. Maddie, the oldest of seven children — six of them girls — got the ball rolling by attending the University of Notre Dame on a track scholarship. Natalie and Jessica followed with field hockey scholarship to Penn State University and the University of Duke.

“I was actually really worried that I wouldn’t get the same opportunities as my sisters,” he says. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to have it over with and getting that monkey off my back. Now the pressure’s on my little sisters, I guess.”

Next in line is Danielle, who is in Grade 11 at Resurrection, but has already received attention from U.S. schools because of her field hockey talent. Emily, who is in Grade 9 at Resurrection, was a starter on the school’s field hockey team this year while Rachel, the baby of the bunch, is in Grade 6.

One of the first things that Scott did when he received the good news was order a new decal for the rear of his father’s GMC Suburban. Gord Buttinger currently shows his support for Notre Dame, Penn State, Duke and Yale and will soon add a Stanford sticker to the collection.

The Yale decal is in support of Jessica’s boyfriend Tyler Varga, a running back on the Bulldogs football squad.

Buttinger has two goals he hopes to achieve before heading to California next year. He wants to earn a spot on the Canadian team that will compete at the Pan-American junior games in August and he also hopes to become the first Canadian high school athlete since Cambridge’s Nathan Brannen to break the four-minute mile.

It won’t be easy, but as he showed in late June of this year, anything is possible.

Top Stories

Race of his life earns Waterloo runner a scholarship to Stanford

SportsDec 18, 2012Waterloo Region Record

KITCHENER — It took less than four minutes for Scott Buttinger’s world to change.

The Waterloo resident, who came out of nowhere on June 22 at London’s TD Waterhouse Stadium to become Canada’s fastest high school runner over 1,500 metres, has accepted a substantial scholarship package to attend prestigious Stanford University near Palo Alto, Calif.

A fifth-year student at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School, Buttinger passed on full-ride deals to the University of Texas and Rice University in Houston to attend the school that had been his preferred destination from the beginning. Princeton University, an Ivy League school in New Jersey that doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, was also in the picture.

“It was all about the right fit. It wasn’t about getting a scholarship, it was about finding the right mix of academics and athletics,” says the well-spoken Buttinger.

“There is a great engineering program there, second only to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and the athletic programs are strong. And with 65- to 70-degree weather there year-round, it’s hard to beat that as a distance runner.”

The Laurel Creek Track and Field Club member was as shocked as anyone by his unforeseen time of three minutes, 47.91 seconds at the London Distance Series event on June 22, especially considering he had posted a time of 3:55.55 just six days earlier at a meet in Windsor. Because of that result in Windsor, Buttinger was the 16th-ranked runner in a field of 16 for the London race.

The 17-year-old Buttinger responded with the race of his life and NCAA coaches took notice. More than 30 of them contacted him over the next few days to express interest, something that was both exciting and overwhelming. Fortunately, Buttinger had a busy competitive schedule that allowed him to redirect his focus. He was at the Olympic trials in Calgary a few days after the London race and also competed at the Canadian junior track and field championship in Winnipeg in late July.

In between the competitions, Buttinger found the time to make 15 unofficial visits to U.S. schools during the summer. His four official visits — to Stanford, Rice, Texas and Princeton — took place in October.

Resurrection and Laurel Creek coach Tom Fitzgerald played a huge role in Buttinger’s success, setting him up with a game plan that saw him focus on shorter races during the high school season in April, May and early June to work on his speed before shifting to the longer distance and focusing on endurance.

“I didn’t fully understand it at the time, but I know it was the right thing because Fitz said it was the right thing,” Buttinger says. “He always has some master plan going on, but you don’t know all the parts.”

Buttinger was interested in Stanford from the get-go, but it was never a slam dunk that he’d wind up there. The first hurdle came up when Eldrick Floreal, one of the coaches to contact Buttinger, left Stanford to take over at the University of Kentucky in early July. Stanford was without a coach until hiring former Georgetown associate head coach Chris Miltenberg in late August.

Miltenberg contacted Buttinger shortly after he was introduced as coach. He encouraged Buttinger to pay a visit to Stanford, but warned him that all recruits have to be approved by the school’s admissions department. Buttinger would have to write half a dozen essays before he was accepted, something he did in mid-November. Then it was a matter of nervously waiting for a response.

He received the good news from Miltenberg last week just before heading out for an after-school run.

Buttinger will be the fourth child of Gord and Pam Buttinger to head south on an athletic scholarship. Maddie, the oldest of seven children — six of them girls — got the ball rolling by attending the University of Notre Dame on a track scholarship. Natalie and Jessica followed with field hockey scholarship to Penn State University and the University of Duke.

“I was actually really worried that I wouldn’t get the same opportunities as my sisters,” he says. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to have it over with and getting that monkey off my back. Now the pressure’s on my little sisters, I guess.”

Next in line is Danielle, who is in Grade 11 at Resurrection, but has already received attention from U.S. schools because of her field hockey talent. Emily, who is in Grade 9 at Resurrection, was a starter on the school’s field hockey team this year while Rachel, the baby of the bunch, is in Grade 6.

One of the first things that Scott did when he received the good news was order a new decal for the rear of his father’s GMC Suburban. Gord Buttinger currently shows his support for Notre Dame, Penn State, Duke and Yale and will soon add a Stanford sticker to the collection.

The Yale decal is in support of Jessica’s boyfriend Tyler Varga, a running back on the Bulldogs football squad.

Buttinger has two goals he hopes to achieve before heading to California next year. He wants to earn a spot on the Canadian team that will compete at the Pan-American junior games in August and he also hopes to become the first Canadian high school athlete since Cambridge’s Nathan Brannen to break the four-minute mile.

It won’t be easy, but as he showed in late June of this year, anything is possible.